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Formula One: Michael Schumacher fastest on day two of Jerez test

Michael Schumacher was on the track for 132 laps at Jerez on Wednesday. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Formula One testing continued for a second day on Wednesday at Jerez in Spain in sunny but cool conditions, with wind making life difficult for drivers.

Nine teams continued to put mileage on their new cars, and with teams running different programs, times were once again largely irrelevant.

There were only two new faces on the track on Wednesday, as Sergio Pérez had his first go in the Sauber C31, and Force India's third driver, Jules Bianchi, spent the morning in the VJM05 before handing the car back to Paul Di Resta.

Michael Schumacher finished the day on top of the times at the wheel of last year's Mercedes GP car, logging a total of 132 laps, the second highest total of the day. His focus was on learning the characteristics of Pirelli's 2012 rubber.

“We made the most of a reliable car today to do lots of laps and learn a lot about the new Pirelli tires and how they perform on longer and shorter runs, and with different setup configurations,” Schumacher said. “It was a good and productive test, full of lots of useful information for the season ahead, and I am now looking forward to driving our 2012 car for the first time at the next test.”

More relevant, Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing RB8 was the fastest of the new cars.

“I think we're making good progress, although, as I keep saying, it's still very early days in the concept of the car, and we have a lot to get through before we race it,” Webber said. “But it's the same for all the teams. We did well on the mileage today. I guess we could have done a bit more, but it was positive overall and the conditions were good to test in.”

Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest for Scuderia Toro Rosso, while Bianchi held onto the fourth-quickest time after his morning run in the Force India.

Kimi Räikkönen lost track time in the morning after damaging the floor of his Lotus in a minor off-track excursion. He bounced back to complete 117 laps--the day's third-highest total--and set the fifth best time.

Di Resta was sixth fastest, ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Massa said that his day was taken up with aerodynamic testing and data collection as the team adjusts to a car that is very different from its predecessors. The consensus among those viewing from trackside was that the Ferrari F2012 did not look very comfortable, but it is way too early to draw too many conclusions.

Jenson Button focused on data gathering and was eighth fastest in his McLaren, ahead of Pérez, Pastor Maldonado in the Williams and Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterham. The latter made up for a poor day on Tuesday by running 139 laps, more than anyone else. Pedro de la Rosa brought up the rear in the 2011 HRT.

McLaren team manager Dave Redding commented, “It's still early days, and this was very much an exploratory day, but we were able to get a useful understanding of how the car behaves and reacts out on the track. It's satisfying that Jenson's been able to complete more than 600 kilometers of trouble-free running over the past two days. That puts us in a good position for the rest of the week.”

On Thursday, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will all be in action for the first time this year.